2.1 Data Quantity and Quality.
The MY29 atmospheric data used here [6] is organised into a set of two Excel Workbooks that each contain a group of 8 Excel worksheets. These worksheets collate the daytime and nighttime polar meridional transect data across each hemisphere for the 8 seasonal octans for the Martian year MY29 [26,27]. Each of the 16 worksheets contains 36 columns that record the atmospheric profile data in 5-degree wide latitude swathes that cover the full extent of the specific hemisphere (either lit day or dark night). For each 5-degree wide latitude band the vertical profile data is recorded at a set of 96 levels that range in height above the datum surface from 1,263 m (610 pascals) to a maximum height of 93,523 m (0.0042 pascals). Due to technical issues associated with the satellite data acquisition process [6] the physical extent of the collated temperature data varies for each of the 8 worksheets within the respective workbook [26,27].
2.2 Data Analysis.
Data Analysis was performed on the MY29 seasonal panels to identify the following sets of atmospheric variables:
1. The air temperature at the datum level of 610 pascals (1,263 m).
2. The tropospheric lapse rate between 10.4 km and 60.4 km of surface elevation.
3. The lapse rate between a datum level of 1.3 km and the variable tropopause height for each of the 3 regional circulation cells (North Pole, Tropical and South Pole).
4. The tropopause height in metres for each of the 3 regional circulation cells (North Pole, Tropical and South Pole).
5. The tropopause temperature in Kelvin for each of the 3 regional circulation cells (North Pole, Tropical and South Pole).
6. Near-surface temperature inversions associated with anomalous energy capture in the boundary layer were recorded when observed in the data.
The results of this analysis are presented in data supplemental files located online at Research Gate [29].
2.3 A Comparison between the Tropospheres of Venus and Mars.
The two terrestrial planets Venus [30] and Mars have a significant number of environmental differences and some very interesting atmospheric similarities (Table 6).